The Minister of Education and Sports, Ogerta Manastirliu, presented the "Sport 2030" vision, a comprehensive approach to the development of sports as an important part of the country's social, educational and international life.
"In all these years, we have managed to bring sports into the spotlight to increase sports culture and also to promote healthy lifestyles, starting with schools and continuing with sports infrastructure to turn sports into an engine of economic development for the country," Manastirliu said, writes A2.
Emphasizing work with young people and the massification of sports in the pre-university system, Minister Manastirliu emphasized: "I want to focus on some of the important projects that have brought great benefits to healthy living, physical activity and sports culture for all ages. One of the important programs that we have initiated in our schools is the School Sports Teams program, which through extraordinary cooperation with the National Council of Sports and Youth and Basketball Federations and the basketball and volleyball federations, has managed to engage more than 12 thousand children, 800 basketball and volleyball teams for girls and boys, and more than 400 physical education teachers involved in this extracurricular program."
In terms of infrastructure, the Minister highlighted the progress achieved and plans for the future: "Thanks to the investments we have made in school infrastructure, thanks to the investments we have made in gyms, sports fields in 450 schools, 200 sports fields and new gyms invested by the Albanian government, we have made it possible for the sports team program to develop and we aim that by 2030 every school will have modern infrastructure from gyms, sports fields and more disciplines included in the sports team program. Sports infrastructure has been part of our strategic priorities starting from investments in Olympic parks such as the Tirana Olympic Park or the Air Albania stadium, Shkodra, Elbasan Arena and until 2030 we will continue investments in the stadiums of Vlora, Durrës, Korça and the "Selman Stërmasi" stadium in Tirana, where we are working."
The Minister also focused on the models that are being created in partnership with international athletes and teams in Albania, focusing on the Durrës City football school, in collaboration with Manchester City: "If there is a new model that we have created, it is the model with Durrës City that we have created with the Durrës City Foundation. And we are really very proud that the Durrës City academy with Manchester City partners has already started a football school for children and there are over 200 children registered, while the investment in Durrës has begun and we will see this program come to life very soon. Also like with the Rafael Nadal academy that will soon become a reality for those who are passionate about tennis."
An important part of this vision is also support for elite athletes and inclusiveness in sports. The Minister focused on the achievements of our athletes in the international arena: "One thing that has always made us proud is the achievements of our elite athletes, where in 2024 Albania won Olympic medals and thanks to our elite athletes we have won medals in other disciplines such as athletics and weightlifting. There will be no lack of support for athletes. Inclusiveness in sports is also very important to us and we are proud that at the Turin Winter Olympics we managed to have 8 Olympic medals for children with special abilities, where now, thanks to the changes we have proposed for sports, we will also have the Special Olympic Committee."
(A2 Televizion)
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